The present invention relates generally to electrical cells, and in one particular aspect to electrical cells having cathodes incorporating multiple thin film metal layers.
As further background, electrolytic cells of various designs have been proposed which incorporate multilayer thin films. For example, Miley et al. used flat stainless steel plates coated with multilayer thin films as electrodes for an electrolytic cell. Such experiments are described in G. Miley, H. Hora, E. Batyrbekov, and R. Zich, “Electrolytic Cell with Multilayer Thin-Film Electrodes”, Trans. Fusion Tech., Vol. 26, No. 4T, Part 2, pp. 313–330 (1994). In this prior work, alternating thin-film (100–1000 Angstrom) layers of two different materials (e.g. titanium/palladium) were employed. Others have proposed the use of packed-bed electrolytic cells where small plastic pellets are coated with several micron-thick layers of different materials. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,943,355; 5,036,031; 5,318,675 and 5,372,688. Still other electrolytic cells have employed coated electrodes of various forms. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,414,064 entitled “Method For Preparing Low Voltage Hydrogen Cathodes” discusses a co-deposit of a first metal such as nickel, a leachable second metal or metal oxide, such as tungsten, and a nonleachable third metal, such as bismuth.
In light of these prior efforts, there remains a need for additional improved and/or alternative electric cell designs which incorporate thin-film (e.g., 50–1,000-Å-thick layers) electrode configurations. The present invention addresses this need.